Aipocalypse

Raj: It took you long enough to reach here

Gus: My bad, I was stuck between a G50 and machine guns. Apparently, it takes 30 minutes and 6 gunners to destroy a G50."

(Courtesy: Warner Bros)

Raj: Well, it has been only a month since the start of AI-apocalypse, or Aipocalypse, and the G50s are in third place of the League of Aiestructors. Can't they just call it AI-destructors? Who the hell came up with these ridiculous names?

Gus: That would be ...

Raj: Gus, what did I say about rhetorical questions? No answer. Always no answer.

Raj took a few steps towards the institution's main entrance, and Gus followed him sulkily. Over the past month, robots have been attacking the major cities of several countries, and the government believes if they are not stopped, then we are not far from total world domination. Raj and Gus have decided to stop the advance of the robots.

Raj: This place is called IIT Kharagpur. And we are entering the Puri Gate. If I correctly remember the directions, then we should move straight. We will encounter a square that is a circle. Take a left, then take a right, and finally another right to reach the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Gus: You just called me and never even told me why we are here.

Raj: Legend has it that my great-great-great-grandfather, Sohan Patnaik, was partly responsible for writing a code that would exponentially slow down the learning process for an agent trying to learn. Imagine, if we could send the script to the Conerators, we could earn a lot of money and save the world.

Gus: And who told you this legend?

Raj: My grandfather.

Gus: Umm... The guy with Alzheimer's and Schizophrenia? Yeah, his memory is totally reliable.

Raj: I believe him! He would not be telling such an absurd lie.

Gus: Creating this legend is precisely the kind of thing your grandfather would be an expert at. Whatever! You called me, I am a good friend; hence I am here. I can see the Department, now what?

Raj simply gestured to follow him.

Raj: This is where we will find the code. We have to guess the password, log in, search for a folder titled "generalized_contrastive," copy the scripts inside it, and send them to the people working at Conerators. Again, why couldn't they just call themselves Code Generators?

Gus: Because ...

Raj: Rhetorical questions, Gus, rhetorical questions!

Raj and Gus successfully reached the point in the system where they just needed to give the password, and it's done. 

Gus: Is that a custom Wordle? We have to play Wordle to guess the password!? 

Raj: It seems like that. Gus, it's time to exercise your vocabulary. Jump right in.

Gus snaps his fingers, takes a deep breath, rests himself on a dusty chair, and enters the first word: "SALET." 

Raj: Isn't "CRANE" the best opener?

Gus: Oh dear Raj, you need to update yourself.

Raj: Whatever, see, we got the 'S' green.

Gus entered "SPICK", and 'P' was yellow. Both cheered, realizing that they would be able to solve this custom Wordle. Ten minutes later, one more guess was remaining. All the vowels were exhausted; none of them were present. The word had at least two 'P' and one 'S.'

Gus: Raj, I ain't seen anything like this. I am afraid we will fail here. One more try, and I don't know what I should enter.

Raj started pacing. Five more minutes passed. 

Gus: Oh, I think I have something. Did Sohan have a girl when he was writing this? Maybe that is the answer!

Raj: (with a sparkle in his eyes) Damn, Gus! This is the reason I brought you here!

Gus: Who is she?

Raj: A girl with those letters? He liked someone, but I don't think they ever talked explicitly about that. Moreover, she had a different combination of letters. There was no 'S' in her name, lol. 

Gus: Then why are you so excited?

Raj: Remember how I said that he was a part of this. There was someone else who was with him when they did this. With the green 'S' in the first position, green 'P' at the end, and yellow 'P,' there is one custom combination of letters that I can think of.

Gus: Cut the drama, just tell me what it is.

Raj: It is "SSPSP." Try it, I am sure. Sohan would have tried to keep it "SPSSP," but then SSP would have used his sarcasm to change it to "SSPSP."

Gus: Wait... wait a minute... SSP? Sohan worked with SSP? Ye height, comparatively obese and obsessed with black color, even though his favorite color was green?

Raj: Yeah... I suppose. Gus, you astound me. Why do you even know this stuff about a nobody?

Gus: Why didn't you call his great-great-great-grandson? He should have been here today with us.

Raj: I don't know about his love life. Gus, focus. Enter the word.

Gus typed the word into the game, and done! They were logged in!

Gus: Good one, Raj. Good one.

Raj: Copy the code, send it to the Conerators, and get paid. We must get out of here within the next hour. There is news that some G50s are coming here. (A few seconds later) Hold up Gus, aren't we supposed to be the first one here?

Gus: What do you mean?

Raj: A keyboard went missing recently from that table, and see, someone logged into the system two days ago. Shhh! (whispering) I hear footsteps. Quickly, grab some chairs.

Gus: (whispering) I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die like this. I want a buttload of money and a medal before giving my life!

As Raj and Gus braced themselves for the encounter, a human figure entered the room.

"Calm down, guys. I had a script that would make the G50s forget stuff and start learning whatever I wanted them to learn. For that purpose, I needed something that would severely slow down their learning process to deploy my "forget_and_learn" script. I have been successful! I have sent the entire module to the Conerators; they should have received it by now. To sum up, G50s won't be coming here."

Raj & Gus: (simultaneously) Who the hell are you?

"Well, I thought you wouldn't mind a surprise visit from someone's great-great-great-grandson."

Siba Smarak Panigrahi

(Gus is taken from "Psych" and Raj from "The Big Bang Theory")